Common sense around the house

This is a somewhat off-topic post, but I thought, what the heck.

I was visiting my parents today. Dad and I were watching TV, when Mom came out of the bedroom saying that the toilet was overflowing. She didn't know enough to turn off the water that ran to the toilet.

Now, I can't really blame my mom for that. She's 70 years old and on medication that kind of "fuzzes up her mind," to state it unscientifically. I'm sure she did know how to turn off the water, she just didnt' think to do it in the stress of the moment.

Truth to tell, I at age 50, don't know that it would have occurred to me to do it either, and I have turned the water off at a toilet plenty of times. In the stress of the moment, I would have just reached for the plunger. But my dad was there, and he turned it off. Then was faced with vacuuming up an inch of water from the floor with a wetvac. (A traditional vacuum cleaner would not have worked, mark you!)

In any event, I'm wondering if kids know to do this. Indeed, there are plenty of things around a house or apartment that kids need to know how to do, but does it occur to parents to teach them how to do it?

Anything from knowing where all the water turnoffs are - and when to use them, to knowing an exit in case of fire, and a meeting point in case of some other kind of emergency.

Do you know what to do if something catches fire on the stove? Depending on what kind of fire it is, pouring water on it will just spread the fire everywhere - not to mention ruin the stove. Depending on how big the fire is, put a large frying pan cover on top of it to deprive the flames of oxygen, or pour baking soda on it if its a grease fire. (A box of baking soda always deserves pride of place on your oven or stove.)

Apparently, and sadly, many kids raid their parents medicine cabinets and take a variety of medicines that they use to get high. So parents need to start locking that stuff up. Even if they've got great kids whom they think are too smart to do something stupid like that Iand it is stupid)

Then there's the case of firearms in the house. I have no problem with that, but of course it is the parent's job to make sure any guns are locked up until they are absolutely needed, and no kids to have access to them.

So, kids, why not talk to your parents about all the maintenance they have to do around the apartment or house. (If they don't do regular maintenance, it is time for them to start! Many things that break need not do so, if they are properly maintained. Like vacuuming out the gunk in the very bottoms of refrigerators, and keeping the icebox ice-free. Running drain cleaner through the drains on a regular basis. Cleaning the filters in the air-conditioning vents, if you've got a central AC system. Making sure that your electric sockets aren't overloaded.

Making sure that no open-flame heaters are used near paper.